Dane County Judge David Flanagan drew scrutiny after issuing a temporary restraining order March 6 against a Walker-backed voter ID law without disclosing his support of the recall, but the analysis shows that judges in 15 other counties also signed petitions, including Door County Circuit Judge D. Todd Ehlers.

Walker supporters were outraged that Flanagan did not disclose his apparent conflict and filed ethics complaints against the judge. However, judges who signed the petition and agreed to interviews defended their decision as constitutionally protected and not explicitly banned by the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct.

Twelve percent of the state's approximately 250 county-level judges signed the petition. By comparison, the 930,000 signatures submitted by recall organizers would represent 21 percent of the state's voting-age population, if all signatures were valid. The Government Accountability Board has so far determined 26,000 were invalid, and the review is ongoing.

The Gannett Wisconsin Media analysis — based on a digital database of recall signatures created by Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty and We the People of the Republic — revealed judges from all corners of the state signed on in support of the recall. The data showed none of the state's 16 appeals court judges or seven Supreme Court justices signed.

Milwaukee County, with one-fifth of the state's circuit court judges, had the most with 11. The county has 47 judges, meaning about a quarter of the judges signed the petition.

In a flagrant and refreshing act of journalism, Eric Litke of the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team (http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20120318/SHE0101/203180442/29-circuit-court-judges-signed-Walker-recall-petitions) detailed how 29 Wisconsin Circuit Court judges signed petitions in support of the Walker Recall in this story (http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20120318/SHE0101/203180442/29-circuit-court-judges-signed-Walker-recall-petitions) run by the SheboyganPress.com . Add this to 14 Democrat Senators who, following public employee unions’ orders, fled to Rockford, Illinois in order to stall a vote on the Budget Repair Bill 2011. Add this to the UW doctors issuing fake sick notes (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/21/university-of-wisconsin-to-investigate-doctors-who-gave-out-fake-sick-notes-to-protesters/) to public employee union members in order to defraud their employers out of sick time. Add this to the agenda-driven judicial hijackings waged by Dane County Judges Sumi (http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/122702109.html), Flanagan (http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2012/03/07/judge-david-flanagan-linked-to-scott-walker-recall-twice/) and Niess (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/wisconsin-judge-won-t-stay-ruling-to-invalidate-voter-id-law).

As with the fleebaggers, UW doctors and the Dane County judicial cabal…these 29 judges are willing to put partisan agendas and public employee unions ahead of their own professional oaths…which is to put them above everyone else in this State.

In response, Mark Levin , the nationally syndicated talk show host and president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, articulates a solid argument the 29 judges violated the Judicial Code of Conduct (http://badgerblogger.com/www.landmarklegal.org/uploads/wisconsin%20recall%20complaint.pdf) in his complaint to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission.

Unfortunately, this is the same commission that finds fault with Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser for raising his hands/arms in defense while ignoring the conduct of the emotionally unstable Justice Ann Walsh-Bradley (http://badgerblogger.com/?p=21831). How they handle this complaint will either serve to redeem or further discredit the Judicial Commission.

Responsible Wisconsinites kicked this kind of partisan crap to the curb by rejecting union puppet Joanne Kloppenburg in her bid for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I hope that Milwaukee County residents reject the similarly biased Carolina Stark (http://images.iverifytherecall.com/images/sw/sw001805.png) in her bid to unseat the better qualified Nelson Phillips for Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Janice

03-21-2012, 10:18 PM

Nice find Apocalypse, thanks for that. :cool:

Odysseus

03-22-2012, 12:53 AM

What the hell would you know about ethics? Just because you can't be objective doesn't mean other people can't.

What makes you think that the judge was objective? The whole point of ethics laws is to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, but here the conflict is obvious. Can you state, with certainty, that the judge's ruling was based on the law and not his partisan preferences? I can't, and that's the problem. The judge should have recused himself.

Novaheart

03-22-2012, 02:49 AM

What makes you think that the judge was objective? The whole point of ethics laws is to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, but here the conflict is obvious. Can you state, with certainty, that the judge's ruling was based on the law and not his partisan preferences? I can't, and that's the problem. The judge should have recused himself.

It's a crock. The only difference between these 29 judges and the other 200 is that you know where these judges stand on this issue.That is not the appearance of impropriety, it is candor.

Odysseus

03-22-2012, 11:05 AM

It's a crock. The only difference between these 29 judges and the other 200 is that you know where these judges stand on this issue.That is not the appearance of impropriety, it is candor.

Is it? If a staunchly Catholic judge who had signed petitions against Gay Marriage were to suddenly be chosen to hear the Prop 8 case, would you feel the same way?